Here's how it works (thanks to wubbaducky, who originally dreamed up the idea of this VBB, for most of the text):

I'll PM the list to participant 1, who picks their choices and replaces them with their own. They'll PM the list back to me. I'll make a note of which books have been added by participant 1 and then PM the list to participant 2, who'll pick their choices and replace and PM back to me the updated list. Etc etc etc. So I'll be keeping tabs on who's contributed what and who's chosen what.

The catch is, you DON'T put down book titles, authors or genres. All you put on the email is the First Sentence of the book. So, for example, if books I was including on the list were Pride and Prejudice, Moby Dick and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone, the virtual list would read:

1. It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of agood fortune must be in want of a wife.

2. Call me Ishmael.

3. Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.

Then you would email me back saying you were taking out numbers 1 and 3 and replacing them with:

4. First sentence of new book

5. First sentence of other new book

Whenever the list comes back to me, I'll then PM you with the first sentence(s) you chose and the screen name(s) of the person who owns the book(s). You will then need to PM them to ask them for that first sentence book.

Please don't tell the recipient what the book is before they receive it- it's all meant to be a mysterious surprise...

Please PM me back the list ASAP- it shouldn't take you more than two weeks to make your choices and replace them and PM me back with the updates.

There should always be 14 books in the virtual bookbox. If you take out five, please replace with five, etc.

Genre doesn't matter so long as the first sentence is interesting (you define interesting). No author's notes/acknowledgements, please. Just the first sentence of the book. I will make one exception in this case: if a book has a prologue, you may choose between the prologue's first sentence and the first chapter's first sentence.

Please update this thread with the first sentence(s) you've chosen to take out and later, please let us know what book(s) they turned out to belong to- we all want to share in your fun too! And of course, don't forget to journal the books themselves later...

Please mail your books out to the people who have chosen your books as quickly as possible- within a month is preferable.

You must be willing to mail internationally, as this is an international bookbox and I can't guarantee who's going to choose your contributions.

You are responsible for contacting the person who owns your first sentence book(s).

Here's how it works (thanks to wubbaducky, who originally dreamed up the idea of this VBB, for most of the text):

I'll PM the list to participant 1, who picks their choices and replaces them with their own. They'll PM the list back to me. I'll make a note of which books have been added by participant 1 and then PM the list to participant 2, who'll pick their choices and replace and PM back to me the updated list. Etc etc etc. So I'll be keeping tabs on who's contributed what and who's chosen what.

The catch is, you DON'T put down book titles, authors or genres. All you put on the email is the First Sentence of the book. So, for example, if books I was including on the list were Pride and Prejudice, Moby Dick and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone, the virtual list would read:

1. It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of agood fortune must be in want of a wife.

2. Call me Ishmael.

3. Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.

Then you would email me back saying you were taking out numbers 1 and 3 and replacing them with:

4. First sentence of new book

5. First sentence of other new book

Whenever the list comes back to me, I'll then PM you with the first sentence(s) you chose and the screen name(s) of the person who owns the book(s). You will then need to PM them to ask them for that first sentence book.

Please don't tell the recipient what the book is before they receive it- it's all meant to be a mysterious surprise...

Please PM me back the list ASAP- it shouldn't take you more than two weeks to make your choices and replace them and PM me back with the updates.

There should always be 14 books in the virtual bookbox. If you take out five, please replace with five, etc.

Genre doesn't matter so long as the first sentence is interesting (you define interesting). No author's notes/acknowledgements, please. Just the first sentence of the book. I will make one exception in this case: if a book has a prologue, you may choose between the prologue's first sentence and the first chapter's first sentence.

Please update this thread with the first sentence(s) you've chosen to take out and later, please let us know what book(s) they turned out to belong to- we all want to share in your fun too! And of course, don't forget to journal the books themselves later...

Please mail your books out to the people who have chosen your books as quickly as possible- within a month is preferable.

You must be willing to mail internationally, as this is an international bookbox and I can't guarantee who's going to choose your contributions.

You are responsible for contacting the person who owns your first sentence book(s).

I see you mentioned no PMs, so not sure what all those PMs are about.... Do you need some seed books from everyone to get this started? If so, how many? When does this start?Sorry, newbie here, too many questions!

No seed books needed. I originally started with 10 books, but over the years a few people have thrown in extras, hence the 14 we have now. You just need to find as many books as sentences you choose when it's your turn.

I will take out:12. The wagon came out of the sun with its attendant din of iron rims turning on flinty shale, its worn silvergray fired orange by the malefic light flaring behind it, the driver disdaining the road for the shortcut down the steep incline, erect now and sawing the lines,, riding the brake onehanded until the wheels locked and skidded, then releasing it so that wagon and team and man moved in a constantly varying cacophony of shrieks and rattles and creaks and underlying it all the perpetual skirling of steel on stone.

12. The wagon came out of the sun with its attendant din of iron rims turning on flinty shale, its worn silvergray fired orange by the malefic light flaring behind it, the driver disdaining the road for the shortcut down the steep incline, erect now and sawing the lines,, riding the brake onehanded until the wheels locked and skidded, then releasing it so that wagon and team and man moved in a constantly varying cacophony of shrieks and rattles and creaks and underlying it all the perpetual skirling of steel on stone.”

1. I could smell him—or rather the booze on his breath—before he even opened the door, but my sense of smell is pretty good, probably better than yours.2. Small trees had attacked my parents' house at the foundation.

and my replacements are:

1. “Are you going to wear white?” Sherry Carter asked.2. One night when I was seven I watched a man die.

I will take out please:3. In the middle of nowhere, a whirlwind spins like a sorceress flinging out her skirts in a macabre dance; yet not even this hysteria serves to blow the dust off the calcified palm trees thrust against the sky like beseeching arms.and14.When the lights went off the accompanist kissed her.

(I put 14 in in the last round, taking it out as it's not been chosen.)

Putting in:Bells.andShe sits, this odd trophy of war, as neat as an obedient child, on a small stool in the corner of her cell.